Boosting New Physics Searches in ttZ and tZj Production with Angular Moments
Roshan Mammen Abraham, Dorival Gonçalves
The angular moments for the Z boson can be used as analyzers for the underlying production dynamics for the ttZ and tZj processes. In this manuscript, we derive these angular moments at leading and next-to-leading order in QCD at the LHC. We show that these observables work as efficient probes to beyond the Standard Model effects, considering the Standard Model Effective Field theory framework. Remarkably, we observe that these probes unveil blind directions to CP-odd operators, providing sizable new physics sensitivity at the 14 TeV LHC with 3 ab−1 of data.